Mark Milbauer Addresses the Board of Trustees

Mark Millbauer, former United Faculty president and auto body instructor, addresses the Green River College Board of Trustees on Sept. 17, as faculty members hold photos of Millbauer to show their support for him.— image credit: Heidi Sanders, Kent Reporter

Faculty Contingent Travel to Olympia

On June 2, 2015, a group of faculty travelled to Olympia to meet with lawmakers, discuss policy, and testify in favor of a budget that would allow for a COLA raise and possible local dollar allowances.

May 21: More than 30 speakers - including students, faculty, staff, and community members, spoke to President Ely and the Board of Trustees about their experience at Green River and the need for threatened programs. Initially, the Board of Trustees refused to hear them. After loud chanting by faculty, staff, students, and community members calling to "LET THEM SPEAK," the Board relented and allowed commentary, although limited what they could actually discuss.

We, the Green River United Faculty Coalition, are striking against the unfair labor practices of college president Eileen Ely and the board of trustees. This 3-day strike will run Monday May 23, through Wednesday, May 25, and will take place at all four college campuses.This strike was called to protest the most recent in a long stream of unfair and wrongful labor practices by the college administration.

NEWS RELEASE

The faculty at Green River College today released a report detailing results of their own campus-wide performance review of President Eileen Ely. In the absence of what they would consider any meaningful evaluation of the President by the Board of Trustees, the faculty union provided all employees at the college the chance to assess her performance. Their goal was to show the President and the Board of Trustees a more comprehensive picture of her management style from the perspective of those she leads. [read full story]

Green River College faculty has ‘No Confidence’ in Board of Trustees, ask Gov. Inslee to make changes

The faculty at Green River College has overwhelmingly approved a vote of no confidence in its board of trustees and is asking Gov. Jay Inslee to appoint new ones.

The vote was presented to the board at its Nov. 18 meeting and comes on the heels of two other votes where 92 percent of tenured faculty said they had no confidence in college President Eileen Ely.

“Our college is in a crisis of governance, and the board has been and continues to be negligent in its responsibility to ensure the college’s fulfillment of its mission,” says a faculty statement explaining its no-confidence vote. More than 80 percent of tenured faculty endorsed the vote.

The statement says the board has failed to:

Evaluate President Ely adequately and effectively;

Intervene in the face of a low and grinding morale across the campus where employees are not valued but rather harrassed, and the mission of the college is impeded;

Provide oversight of questionable financial operations;

Responsibly and respectfully communicate with faculty and address our concerns about the lack of shared governance;

Failed to uphold the right of free speech by providing restrictions on presenters to the board;

Uphold the traditional values and practices of the board which support the mission of the college;

Question or arrest the declining role of instruction in the operations of the college; and

Provide reasonable oversight regarding personnel matters.

“For these reasons, we believe the board is derelict in its oversight duties,” says the statement.

The statement asks that when current board members’ terms expire, Gov. Inslee “support union labor” by appointing trustees who understand the concerns of labor. In addition, the statement adds, “we believe the college would benefit from having more board members who represent the growing diversity and changing demographics of our service area.”